Protection of branded products is more difficult with the increasing flow of goods across borders. The globalization of the economy results in greater challenges to protect the value associated with innovation, as well as goodwill in a company's brand or brands. Even if trademark laws and/or branding rights are respected in all countries in which an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) does business, falsely labeled goods continue to detrimentally impact upon an OEM's business and profitability.
Cummins Filtration is in the business of producing filter products, some of which are used with, for example, diesel engines manufactured by a sister company. One problem is counterfeit manufacturers produce reverse engineered products identified as Cummins Filtration products, even though such products are inferior in many respects, and fail to meet necessary performance requirements. This type of activity significantly erodes an OEM's business over the product life cycle, particularly when inferior products can cause premature engine failure.
It is important to catch “copycats” in the act to discourage the counterfeiting industry as a whole, as well as reduce warranty costs if engines are failing prematurely in their product life cycle due to use of inferior counterfeit products. However, since the outer facade and packaging of the OEM filter product are often illicitly replicated, a reliable way of discerning whether a product is counterfeit is needed. Identification of OEM products has been previously accomplished using, for example, RFID tags as well as custom plastic formulations that may be molded into the OEM article. However, due to the illicit replication of the external facade and/or the RFID tag, further efforts are needed to reduce or halt illegal counterfeiting activities. Extensive efforts made by counterfeiters have been noted (how the counterfeit goods are made, type of shipping containers, etc.) in past efforts to police illegal counterfeit products in the marketplace. These efforts demonstrate that illicitly copying OEM products, packaging, and/or branding may pose a significant challenge to one's business if not stopped quickly. Often, raids must be performed on companies producing the counterfeit products, and such raids need to include a rapid demonstration of the false packaging and branding of the products located in such raids. Further improvements are needed in anti-counterfeiting measures to protect value.